A Sociosemiotic Analysis of Fugard’s My Children! My Africa!

This essay presents a sociosemiotic analysis of My Children! My Africa! (1989) by Athol Fugard. By considering the characters’ views about self, community, education, and time, it points to the Fugard’s anxious attempt to offer liberalism as the solution to apartheid in South Africa instead of oppositional politics, especially blacks’ calls for activism and communalism. Sociosemiotics is suitable to plays overtly political; it holds that political writers are troubled by political changes that do not correspond to a firmly held ideology—a tension between what a playwright believes is absolute and what s/he senses and perhaps fears is happening. Keys to the analysis are contemporary texts, including essays from leading Black writers and journalists and from studies and essays from attendees of a 1986 conference on liberal solutions to the unrest in South Africa

Bloch Waves in Crystals and Periodic High Contrast Media

Analytic representation formulas and power series are developed describing the band structure inside periodic photonic and acoustic crystals made from high contrast inclusions. Central to this approach is the identification and utilization of a resonance spectrum for quasi-periodic source free modes. These modes are used to represent solution operators associated with electromagnetic and acoustic waves inside periodic high contrast media. Convergent power series for the Bloch wave spectrum is recovered from the representation formulas. Explicit conditions on the contrast are found that provide lower bounds on the convergence radius. These conditions are sufficient for the separation of spectral branches of the dispersion relation

Analysis of the Economic Effects of Requiring Post-harvest Processing for Raw Oysters

oysters, post-harvest processing, hydrostatic pressure, cool pasteurization, GIS, Agricultural and Food Policy, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, L510, Q180, Q220,

Photoacoustic detection of circulating melanoma cells in the plasma layer of the blood [abstract]

Abstract only availableWhen a melanoma patient is diagnosed, aggressive treatment is advised in an effort to contain the disease. Although the initial malignant cells are destroyed, it is impossible to determine whether or not the cancer has metastasized until a secondary tumor forms. This can take months to discover, by which time the cancer could be advanced. Our research focuses on using photoacoustic signals to detect melanoma cells circulating in the blood, allowing for much earlier discovery and treatment of this type of cancer. Photoacoustic signals are produced when a laser illuminates a medium - blood, in this case - and the resultant pressure created by the light causes the medium to emit a sound wave. These waves are specific to the medium being illuminated, and melanoma cells can therefore be differentiated from surrounding blood cells based on the waveform it produces. Our current technique involves the in vitro separation of blood through centrifugation to isolate and test only the white blood cell layer since the contrast between these cells and melanoma cells is clear. Using this method, we have detected a single cancerous cell in the blood stream. However, the process could be made simpler if the plasma layer were used for detection instead of the white blood cell layer. This layer is easier to obtain after blood has been centrifuged, the optical difference between plasma cells and melanoma cells is more pronounced in this layer than in the white blood cell layer, and the possibility that any stray red blood cells could distort the results is eliminated. The primary focus has therefore been to determine whether or not melanoma cells are commonly found in the plasma layer of the blood. If such is the case, this research will be one step closer to revolutionizing the treatment of melanoma patients around the world.College of Engineering Undergraduate Research Optio

Determination of the efficacy of an applied vacuum at the skin surface during the laser therapy of Port Wine Stain (PWS) [abstract]

Abstract only availableWe will be doing experiments ex vivo using pig skin, which is very similar and much more attainable than human skin, to test the stress vs. strain relationship, elasticity (Young's Modulus) and research skin mechanics. Certain pathological conditions in skin, such as basal cell carcinoma, exhibit changes in skin mechanics. Thus, measuring skin elasticity may help in clinical identification of skin cancer borders. We will be using degraded pig skin and a tensile tester to create a model of skin strength. Skin will be degraded using collagenase to change the skin mechanical properties. After getting the results and data we will then compare this to skin deformation experiments using a vacuum cup which we can get from a simple and pain-free clinical study. By applying a low level vacuum to human skin, in vivo, we will measure the deformation of skin and extract the elasticity. Eventually, we would like to use this vacuum to help with laser light therapy to reduce the appearance of birthmarks made from blood-vessels (vacuum details and usage) as well as to diagnose other skin pathologies

Photoacoustic Detection of Circulating Prostate, Breast and Pancreatic Cancer cells using targeted Gold Nanoparticles: Implications of Green Nanotechnology in Molecular Imaging

Nanoscience Poster SessionCirculating tumor cells are hallmarks of metastasis cancer. The presence of circulating tumor cells in blood stream correlates with the severity of disease. Photoacoustic imaging (PA) of tumor cells is an attractive technique for potential applications in diagnostic imaging of circulating tumor cells. However, the sensitivity of photoacoustic imaging of tumor cells depends on their photon absorption characteristics. In this context, gold nanoparticle embedded tumor cells offer significant advantages for diagnostic PA of single cells. As the PA absorptivity is directly proportional to the number of nanoparticles embedded within tumor cells, the propensity of nanoparticles to internalize within tumor cells will dictate the sensitivity for single cell detection. We are developing biocompatible gold nanoparticles to use them as probes as part of our ongoing effort toward the application of X ray CT Imaging, Ultra Sound (US) and photoacoustic imaging of circulating breast, pancreatic and prostate tumor cells. We, herein report our latest results which have shown that epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG)-conjugated gold nanoparticles (EGCG-AuNPs) internalize selectively within cancer cells providing threshold concentrations required for photo acoustic signals. In this presentation, we will describe, our recent results on the synthesis and characterization of EGCG gold nanoparticles, their cellular internalization and photo acoustic imaging of PC-3 prostate cancer cells and PANC-1 pancreatic cancer cells

Predicting College Students\u27 Career Interests To Be a Police Investigator Rather Than a Patrol Officer

In the field of criminal justice, much research has been dedicated to investigating policing in the 21stcentury. However, there is a lack of research regarding predictions of career preference among college students, more specifically, millennials. This study was designed to fill that gap in the literature by examining interests in police patrol careers. The methodology involved included multiple regression as a way to potentially predict career preference for a police investigator rather than a patrol officer. The results provided promising results for the overall understanding of career preference for millennials. This study also provided crucial discussions for policy implications and future research recommendations

Yemi Bamiro, Yemisi Brookes, and Shianne Brown. Fight the Power: How Hip Hop Changed the World.

Review of Yemi Bamiro, Yemisi Brookes, and Shianne Brown. Fight the Power: How Hip Hop Changed the World. PBS, 2023. 4 episodes